Short answer. A foreign company can bring a health platform to Brazil through a Brazilian company that it controls. What is different from other digital businesses is the healthcare layer: registration with the regional medical council, a medical technical director when there is telemedicine, physicians who hold a Brazilian licence, and patient data that the law treats as sensitive. The tax result depends on how the money flows between patient, platform and physician.
General information as of October 2026, not legal advice. Healthcare is among the most regulated sectors in Brazil. Requirements vary by activity and by council, and some are confirmed with the council before launch.
First, understand the business model
Before structure and taxes, these questions decide almost everything:
- Is the platform only scheduling and marketplace, or does it also deliver teleconsultations, prescriptions and medical certificates?
- How does the platform earn: a fee per consultation, a percentage, or a subscription paid by the physician?
- Who receives the payment from the patient, and how does the physician receive his or her share?
- Which company abroad will be the partner in Brazil, and will the Brazilian company pay it a licence or a service fee?
- How many physicians and consultations do you expect in the first year?
The answers separate three very different cases: a technology intermediary that does not provide medical care, a platform that delivers telemedicine itself, and a clinic or laboratory operation. Each has its own registrations and its own tax base.
The structure
The usual vehicle is a limited liability company (Ltda.) in Brazil with the foreign company as partner. It needs a manager who lives in Brazil, an attorney-in-fact for the partner before the federal tax authority and the Central Bank, and a registered address. In a platform that delivers telemedicine, it also needs a medical technical director registered with the regional council. Because the partner is a foreign company, the Simples Nacional does not apply, and the company is normally taxed under presumed profit. The full path, with documents and timeline, is in our step-by-step guide.
| Piece | In a health platform |
|---|---|
| Partner | The foreign company, with documents apostilled and translated |
| Brazilian company | A Ltda. under presumed profit, headquartered in the city of operation |
| Manager | Lives in Brazil and signs for the company |
| Attorney-in-fact | Acts for the foreign partner before the tax authority and the Central Bank |
| Technical director | A physician registered with the regional medical council, when there is telemedicine |
| Registered address | Headquarters and basis of the municipal registration |
Foreign capital in healthcare
The Brazilian Constitution restricts foreign companies and capital in healthcare, except in the cases provided by law. Law 13,097/2015 created broad exceptions: foreign companies and capital can take part, directly or indirectly, in healthcare services, including clinics, hospitals and laboratories. The constitutionality of that law has been challenged before the Supreme Court. The activity operates normally today, but the current status of those cases should be checked with a healthcare lawyer before you invest, and the investment documents should consider the risk.
The medical council and the technical director
A company that provides medical services registers with the regional medical council of the place where it operates, and names a technical director who is a physician registered with that council. For a platform, the requirement depends on whether the company itself provides medical care. Where there is teleconsultation under the company's responsibility, expect the registration and the technical director. The exact requirement of the council of the state, such as the São Paulo council, is confirmed before launch, and the council may ask for the clinical staff and documentation within a deadline after the company starts.
Telemedicine itself is regulated by the Federal Council of Medicine, including how remote consultations, records, prescriptions and certificates must be handled. The platform has to be designed around those rules, not adapted afterwards. If your software qualifies as a medical device, it may also need registration with the national health surveillance agency.
Physicians
- Physicians who see patients in Brazil need a Brazilian licence and register with the regional council. A diploma obtained abroad must be revalidated in Brazil before the physician can practice.
- An investor may own the company without being a physician. Only licensed professionals provide clinical care.
- Many physicians work through their own companies. That is common and legal, but the contract has to reflect a real service relationship. Misclassifying employees as contractors is a recurring labor risk in healthcare.
Patient data
Health data is sensitive personal data under the Brazilian data protection law (LGPD), with stricter conditions for processing, consent and security. For a foreign platform, three points matter in practice:
- A data protection officer. The company appoints a person in charge of data, who communicates with patients and with the data protection authority.
- Sending data abroad. If patient data is processed by the parent or by servers in Europe or elsewhere, the transfer has to follow the international transfer rules of the law and of the authority's regulation, which include contractual clauses and other mechanisms. Design the data flow before the first patient.
- Security and records. Medical records have retention and confidentiality rules that apply on top of the data law.
Because the parent will also be subject to its own regime (for example, the GDPR in Europe), the data flow should be mapped by lawyers on both sides. Our team coordinates with them on the accounting and tax side.
How money flows: patient, platform and physician
This is both a regulatory and a tax question. In a typical marketplace, the patient pays through a payment provider, the payment is split, the physician receives his or her share and the platform receives its fee. If the platform holds customers' funds itself, it may fall under the Central Bank's rules for payment institutions. Using a licensed payment partner that performs the split avoids that.
The tax consequence is that the platform's revenue is its fee. The physician's share goes through the split and does not become the platform's revenue, so it is not part of the tax base. Document it clearly in the contracts and in the accounting, because the tax authority looks at who is the real provider of the service.
Taxes
For a service company under presumed profit, the tax on the platform's own revenue is roughly:
| Tax | How it is calculated | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| Service tax (ISS) | On the platform fee, set by the city | 2% to 5% |
| PIS and Cofins | On revenue (cumulative regime) | 3.65% |
| Corporate income tax (IRPJ) | 15% on a presumed profit of 32% of revenue | 4.8%, plus 10% on the presumed profit above R$ 20,000 a month |
| Social contribution on profit (CSLL) | 9% on a presumed profit of 32% of revenue | 2.88% |
| Total | About 13% to 16% of the platform's revenue |
If the company itself provides medical services, the presumption can be different, because some health services use a lower presumption percentage when they qualify as hospital services. That classification depends on the structure of the facility and is analyzed before the company is set up. The consumption tax reform also gives health services a reduced rate in the new tax, which is phased in until 2033. Model it with your accountants rather than relying on a single percentage.
Check the cost of getting money back. The remittance calculator compares dividends, software licences and capital returns for a health platform, with the Brazilian rates of 2026.
Getting the money back to the parent
If the parent licenses the software to the Brazilian company, the tax cost on the way out is much higher than if the parent receives dividends. In our model, for the parent to receive R$ 85,000, the tax cost is about R$ 9,400 as a dividend and about R$ 32,200 as a software licence, which does not reduce the Brazilian company's income tax under presumed profit. Read the details in our guide to sending money out of Brazil. A tax treaty between Brazil and the parent's country may change the withholding.
Timeline
For a simple structure, 45 to 90 days is a common planning range from the start until the company operates. In healthcare, what weighs most is the foreign partner's documents and the medical council. Plan the council registration in parallel with the incorporation, not after.
Checklist for a foreign health platform
- A clear description of the business model and the money flow.
- Structure and tax regime simulated for the platform and, if applicable, for the clinical activity.
- Medical technical director identified and registered with the council.
- Confirmation of the council's requirements for your type of telemedicine.
- Physician contracts and licences checked.
- Data protection officer, data flow to the parent and transfer mechanism mapped.
- A licensed payment partner for the split.
- Central Bank registration of the investment before funds enter.
- A decision on how the parent will be paid: dividend, licence or capital return.
How we work
Move Advisory is the advisory arm of Move Online, an accounting firm founded in 2017 with a focus on healthcare professionals and companies. We start with a diagnosis, then handle the incorporation and the Central Bank registration, and then run the accounting, local representation and registered address. Legal matters in healthcare, such as telemedicine rules and contracts with physicians and payers, are handled with our tax attorney and your own lawyers. See the services page.